SANTA ANA – The Mater Dei and Redondo girls volleyball teams are Nos. 1 and 2 respectively in this week’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 rankings, and their meeting Wednesday could be the first in a series of matches between the teams this season.

Both teams will be competing in next weekend’s Durango Fall Classic, which features a deep field with teams from all over the U.S., and it’s also possible they could meet in the Division 1 championship game.

The first round went to the Monarchs, thanks to 31 kills from Natalie Berty, 25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 27-25.

“I was confident the way we’ve been playing, coming off of Dave Mohs, I knew what we were capable of,” Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell said. “If we maintained the level we’ve been at, that it would be really tough for Redondo to take us down.”

After a slow start, the Sea Hawks (9-1) found some success, staying alive by winning the third set and pushing the Monarchs to the brink of a possible fifth set.

Mater Dei (13-0) reached match point at 24-23 and 25-24, but both times Redondo managed to stay alive.

However, at 25-25, Mater Dei’s Kristina Pepek and Berty closed the match with consecutive kills.

“I thought it was an entertaining game,” Redondo coach Tommy Chaffins said. “We didn’t really slow down their best kid (Berty), and she displayed why she’s a great player, but bottom line is, we took them to overtime in the fourth set.

“We were down 0-2 and things weren’t looking good in the third, so I appreciated that my team had some fight and grit and made it happen. I thought it was a really good volleyball match, they were one player better.”

Jasmine Davis led Redondo with 20 kills and Ava Kirunchyk had nine.

The opening set started like you would expect from the top two teams in the section. Neither team held more than a two-point lead throughout the early moments until Mater Dei scored four consecutive points to take a 22-19 lead.

Mater Dei led 16-11 in the second before Redondo showed some of that fight and grit to tie the score at 20-20, but eventually came up short, falling behind 2-0.

“After taking those first two sets, Redondo kept on fighting and fought back even harder, which I don’t think our girls expected and weren’t really ready for,” O’Dell said. “Credit Redondo for stealing that third (set), and we might have been an over-pass kill away from going five and who knows what happens.

“That was a heavyweight battle. Two good teams going at it and we were fortunate to come out on top.”

Damian Calhoun is the Prep Sports Coordinator and writer for the Daily Breeze. He's also the soccer writer for the Southern California News Group, covering Major League Soccer and occasionally the U.S. national teams.